Teacher evaluations, longer learning times part of proposal

Felicita Elementary School teachers would be evaluated and
rewarded based on their students' achievements under a
transformation model recommended Thursday to Escondido Union School
District trustees.

Details of a plan proposed to help improve Felicita Elementary
School were revealed Thursday to the school board, which must adopt
a plan by June under orders from the state.

The California Department of Education has ordered the district
to make significant changes to the operation of the troubled
school, which has persistently scored low on tests of student
proficiency in certain subjects. In March, the state identified
Felicita as one of 188 California schools it is requiring to adopt
one of four mandated improvement plans.

After several meetings with Felicita teachers, EUSD staff
members recommended the district follow what the state refers to as
the transformational model to improve the school.

Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Brenda Jones presented
the recommendation to the board, and Superintendent Jennifer
Walters said trustees will hear more specifics next month when the
board votes to approve the plan.

The recommendation came after several meetings at the school
between Felicita teachers and district staff members who together
formed the 17-member TIDES/Felicita Planning Team. TIDES, an
acronym for Transformative Inquiry Design for Effective Schools and
Systems, is the district's year-old reform committee and includes
Walters, a board member, three district administrators, union
teachers and a technical specialist.

Trustee Marv Gilbert asked Jones if the Felicita staff was in
full compliance with the recommendation, and Jones said the six
teachers on the team had meet with other teachers, and without
administrators present, to confirm their support.

The model calls for a change in leadership at the school, and
Walters earlier announced that Felicita Principal Henry Leso was
being replaced next semester by Rock Springs Elementary School
Principal Kathy O'Keefe-Morris.

In other elements of the transformational model, the principal
and teachers will create a system that uses a "rigorous,
transparent and equitable" system to evaluate teachers based on
their students' achievement, according to Jones' presentation.

School leaders, teachers and other staff members also will be
rewarded for increased student achievement, and teachers will be
provided with ongoing, high-quality professional development.

Incentives such as more flexible work conditions will be offered
to recruit, place and retain staffers to meet the needs of
students, according to the report.

Learning time also will be increased at Felicita, which will be
a "community-based school" that provides ongoing family and
community involvement, the report continued.

Jones said the district will receive between $50,000 and $2
million a year for three years to implement the program, but first
the plan must be presented to the state for approval.

Walters said the district should know how much it will receive
in July.

Of the three other options that could have been adopted, the
most drastic called for closing the school and enrolling its
students in a higher-achieving district school. Another option
called for closing the school and reopening it as a charter school,
while a fourth option, called the turnaround, called for replacing
at least half of the staff, adopting a new governance structure and
implementing a new or revised instructional program.